A Secret To Keep
by candylyn
Summary: Gambit has quit a few secrets, some have come out others are still within him but can he keep this one or will it destroy the happiness he has finally found with Rogue.


A Secret to Keep  
By Candylyn  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own the X-Men.  
  
Notes: Gambit has quit a few secrets, some have come out others are still within him but can he keep this one or will it destroy the happiness he has finally found with Rogue.  
  
Introduction  
  
The fight had been a particularly long one, but Storm and her team were victorious; laying waste to the mutant terrorist calling themselves the Brotherhood yet again.   
  
Ororo looked on as the police and EMS paramedics worked feverishly to place the injured parties into various ambulances and police cars. One by one Storm's team returns to her side. First Bishop, his clothes ripped and body literally steaming from the stockpile energy still surging through him. Then Psylocke, whom escaped any and all injury. Then Thunderbird seemed to appear at Betsy's side out of no where. Finally Sage gracefully moved towards the group.  
  
After a moment longer, Storm rolled her gentle blue eyes to either side as her teammates discussed the battle amongst themselves from their rooftop perch. The problem was someone was missing. "Has anyone seen Rogue?" She asked in urgent tone. All conversation ended. They exchanged quick alarmed glances then split up in order to find their lost comrade.  
  
Six Months Later  
  
Gambit, as he had done every night for six months now, sat wrapped in a blanket on the roof of his 'home'. But it wasn't just any blanket, it was 'the' blanket. This piece of cotton was the same piece of cotton her wrapped around Rogue's shoulders almost five years ago when she asked him was everything going to be okay, wrapping it around her was his way of saying yes. Protected from her skin by the barrier the fabric created, he held her in his arms until the sun rose in the East.  
  
He was so content, so happy. For the first time in years he allowed himself to believe that his secrets didn't matter, that all he'd done wrong had been forgiven by God on high and that he had finally found the one woman in the world he could love all his days. He didn't even care that they might never consummate their love, he would happy just holding her like this everyday and night until the chariot hung low and took him to blessed promised land.  
  
But ... he was wrong. It seemed from that moment one everything in the universe kept them apart. Between the arrival of Magneto's clone Joseph to the X-Men discovering the part he played in the Massacre of the Morlocks and finally Rogue's decision to leave him behind to join Storm's treasure hunting team looking for Destiny's diaries; they seemed destined to be apart. Now she had vanished without a trace.  
  
It had been six months, three weeks, four days, three hours and fifteen minutes if his watch was correct, since Storm called and told him that she'd vanished. Xavier used Cerebra, Jean and several Telepaths reached out to her, but nothing. He and Wolverine had even gone to hunt her down, but nothing. There was that rather cryptic call they traced to Paris a few days ago, but it was a dead end. Besides, the caller said nothing at all just hung up after he answered the phone.  
  
Remy LeBeau, the man who had always kept going and never gave up, was about to give up. Rogue was dead and there was....  
  
BEEP BEEEEEP!!!  
  
Remy's head shot up from between his bent knees. Parked in front of the mansion was a yellow cab. The driver was leaning on the horn like nobody's business, while yelling into the comlink. A few seconds later the gate lurched open and the cab quickly rolled in.  
  
Remy please come downstairs, we have a quest... Charles' fatherly voice called to him pulling his attention away from the approaching cab.  
  
He rose slowly, taking one last look at the cab before reentering the window. As he entered the hall, he heard what sounded like a stampede moving away from him and down the steps. "What de hell?" He questioned in a whispered tone. Cautiously he walked towards the steps. He caught the tail end of Jean's green robe fluttering in the doorway as she exited. Soon a joyous sound erupted from outside.  
  
"Jubilee or Alison musta come home 'gain. Bes' put on my handsome smile so dey not be asking Remy fifty-million questions." He coached himself as she jogged down the steps. The plan was to smile, hug, and then vanish in the midst of their homecoming. That is until he exited the door.  
  
The cheers and happy tears died down a bit and the gathered group parted like the red sea when Wolverine cleared his throat announcing Remy's arrival. Standing before him was a woman dressed in black boots, ripped black jeans and a tight green T-shirt ... with a white streak running through her hair, Rogue had come home.  
  
Allowing Remy only a moment to register her presence, Rogue flung herself into his arms and kissed him full on the lips garnishing shocked awes and gasps from the crowd. Remy's eyes grew wide with fear and worry until he realized that their was no pull, only the tenderness of her lips and smell of strawberries coming from her hair. Relaxing ever so slightly, he pulled her closer to him and their kiss grew more passionate.  
  
More than shocked glances were exchanged, excepted by Wolverine who had learned a long time ago that anything was possible while you wore an X on your chest, as it where. He simply turned and tossed the rather irate taxi driver a hundred dollar bill. Still grouching the driver revved his engine and tore down the drive back towards New York City.  
  
  
Sixteen Years Later  
  
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!"  
  
Everyone in the house sprang from their beds as the godaweful screech filled the halls of Xavier's Institute for the Gifted.  
  
"Where?!?" Storm demanded.  
  
"The girl's dorm!" Jean returned. Her response only made the group run or fly faster. The girl's dorm was home to 50 very special young ladies, all mutants ... four of which were the children of the X-men.  
  
As they reached the brick and half ivy covered building, thirteen year old, Fiona Starsmore stood shell-shocked at the doorway.  
  
"ONI!!!" Jubilee called to her daughter as she reached to embrace her. The child fell into her mother's arms, limp as a sack of potatoes. Jean stopped at Jubilee's side and quickly scanned the house but with the exception of a few girls dragged from their dreams by the scream all seemed fine. Jubilee looked her daughter over one good time, she was still fully dressed, but it was midnight, she should have been safe and sound in her bed. Jean and Jubilee exchanged puzzled looks.  
  
A moment later Storm emerged from the building with her daughter Cairi who was also Fiona's roommate. "Oni?" Cairi called. As the older got an eyeful of her best friend she broke down into tears barring her face into her mother's shoulder. Jean stood up, as a sudden wave of guilt and knowledge exploding from the girl's mind and washed the master Telepath like flood waters.  
  
"What happened Cairi?" Jean demanded. Cairi violently shook her head no and only cried louder. Just as Storm was about to protest Jean's question, panic-stricken parents Gambit and Rogue raced from the building.   
  
"By the Goddess Remy..."  
  
"Pray to her Stormy, cause who ever took my baby girl is a dead man." Remy yelled as she made his way towards the woods.   
  
Rogue was already in the sky calling to her daughter, "Dominique," she yelled as her tears started to overwhelm her. "DOMINIQUE PLEASE ANSWER MOMMA!!!!"   
  
"I'll take Jubilee and Fiona to Medlab and join ya later." Wolverine barked to Jean and Ororo as he gathered up his Goddaughter.  
  
"Wait," Jean demanded earning a growl of discontentment from Wolverine. She slowly and more importantly, calmly approached Cairi, Sweety what happened? Who did this to Fiona, she's your best friend. we need to know who did this so that Hank can treat her for her injuries."   
  
Between Jean's calm tone and her consuming guilt Cairi raised her head, her sparkling gray eyes turned red from her tears. After a long moment she whispered, "Dominique ... she's a... a Vampire." The admission only served to push Cairi further into hysterics.   
  
"A vampire?" Storm whispered in confusion as she craddled her daughter. Jubilee and Wolverine said nothing only rushed the comatosed Fiona towards the mansion.  
  
Rogue's minds raced as she scanned the woods for her little girl. Her only comfort was that no alarms had been tripped, so hopefully that meant that no one had taken her. She finally came to a clearing, there amongst the wildflowers and tall grass was her child on her knees in tears.  
  
Gracefully touching down in the clearing, she raced to her daughter, "Dominique?" She said through her tears.   
  
The girl seemed to come to life all at once, "GET AWAY FROM ME!!!!" Dominique's body turned a harsh shade of pink. As the energy built, a blast of biokenetic energy radiated from her flinging her mother several feet away from her, into the darkness of the woods.   
  
Gambit heard the blast and Rogue's southern fried yell. "Oh God no." He begged. As he saw the clearing, he could just make out his baby girl. "Thank you God." He whispered as he maneuvered through the forest. Just a few steps away from the clearing he could make out his wife's green silk robe and fuzzy bunny slippers. "Marie?!" He called to her. Swiftly changing his course away from his daughter towards his wife, he almost broke his ankle as he tripped over a tree branch and went flying through the air landing safe and sound in his wife's lap.  
  
"Well, now," he grunted as he rolled his eyes up at her. Horror. His heart stopped. He could not breath. Her face was ... blue. Her brown hair was mixed with blood red strands. Her eyes fluttered open then close as she attempted to ward off the effects of having her head slammed into a tree at 80 miles an hour. But here eyes were ... yellow. Gambit scurried off his wife and back pedaled away. Just was he got to his feet, Rogue's eyes fully opened but they were normal.Her face was it's normal rosy and peach tone. Even her hair was back to normal.  
  
Clawing up the tree, Rogue got to her feet and eyed her dazed and confused husband. "Dominique needs you Remy, something's wrong."  
  
"Yeah." Remy said as he relaxed his stance. Something was wrong indeed.  
  
Rogue staggered towards him, he instinctively reached out for her and pulled her into his arms. her big green eyes held far too much yellow in them tonight. "Remy." Rogue weakly said.  
  
"Rest here Chere I'll get Dominique."  
  
Later that morning  
  
Remy sat on the edge of his bed looking at the collection of photographs on his nightstand. One was of him and Rogue the day before their wedding; they were soaked from head to toe and covered in bubbles. Storm had grown tired of them milling around the house and ordered them to go and wash the cars. Jubilee and Wolverine joined in and all hell broke lose as a game of Boys Vs Girls with water hoses ensued with the end result being four very soaked X-Men and the cars were still not washed.  
  
The next photo was of Rogue in her wedding dress and Remy in his tux by the lake. It was the single most perfect day he had ever seen and Storm didn't even have to work her magic to make it so. Next was a picture of Rogue smiling happily as he smiled like a bloody idiot was they cradled their newborn baby girl. There were other photos, each just as important to him as the last.  
  
Reaching out, he recovered his wedding photo. As the world seemed to slow, all sound fled his space and his wife's beautiful face morphed into Mystique.  
  
"Remy!?" Jubilee called from the other side of the door. The interruption caught the Cajun off guard. The photo, frame and all, slipped from his hands. As the frame hit the floor the glass exploded and sprayed all over the wood floor. "REMY?!?" Jubilee cried out. Before he could respond, the door flew off the frame and broke into a million splinters. Standing in the door way was Jubilee's pregnant frame, her hand glowing red hot as she breathed hard.   
  
"Petite?" Remy questioned.  
  
"I heard glass brake." She said entering his room in battle stance.  
  
"Oh yeah Mystique broke the window." Remy hissed as the memory horrifying facial twist that manifested in the picture consumed him.  
  
"Real funny Gumbo, don't you know better than to scare a pregnant woman."  
  
"Especially with her husband only a few feet behind her." Jonothon Starsmore psonically barked from the doorway."  
  
"Sorry Jono," Remy apologized, " Remy just a little on his mind."  
  
"Never known you to be a klutz Gumbo." Jubilee sweetie commented as she picked up the broken frame, "But the picture looks okay, the frame is ding ding though."  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"Well, we need to talk Remy." Jubilee said in a matter of fact tone as she piked the larger pieces of glass.  
  
"Is Fiona okay?" He asked.  
  
"Fine now. That's what we need to talk about. Fiona, Dominique and Cairi spilled the beans about ten minutes ago. Rogue already knows but she didn't want to leave Dominique."  
  
"Marie knows what?" Remy asked the pair. Jubilee exchanged a worried glance with her already peeved husband, he only flopped in a chair in the corner. His anger punctuated by the growing roar of the nuclear chamber that is where his internal organs used to be.  
  
"We found out what happened to Fiona and Dominique last night and we have a real situation here Remy." Jubilee said as she sat on the bed next to Remy.  
  
"What kinda problem Petite?"  
  
"We have always known that Dominique was going to be a mutant and an alpha level one at that. And recently her biokenetic blasts have been getting stronger."  
  
"Yeah and."  
  
"Well, what we didn't know is where she was getting her energy."  
  
"Getting ... her ..."  
  
"Remy ..." Jubilee lowered her eyes as she formulated her thoughts into polite words, "Dominique is a succubus. She has to feed on the life-force of others to survive."  
  
"WHAT!?!?!?" Remy leapt from the bed and stood over Jubilee with furious eyes.  
  
"Mate, you best calm yourself in front of me wife else ..." Jono furthered his threat by tucking his finger under the hem of his scarf exposing a small amount of energy. Remy took note of the threat, but refused to sit.  
  
"Remy, she's been pulling energy from Fiona. Fiona and Cairi knew about her all along, but they were too scared to come forward. They thought that if they told us we would force Dominique to wear a restraining collar or something. You know girls and their imaginations. But Dominique needs the energy regardless, she can feed off anyone really, but if she feeds off a mutant she charges her biokenetic blasts. If she only charges off a human her biokenetics died back a bit. I hate to compare her to him but she's like Sauron that way. Fiona volunteered to be her ... her... Anyway, when Fiona's powers started to get stronger so did the level of power Dominique got. Finally last night, Dominique claimed that when she took from Fiona it was like taking a drug or something. She didn't want to let her go. She pulled to much."  
  
"Is Fiona gonna..."  
  
"She'll be fine ... this time." Jono muttered from the corner. Remy looked over at the concerned and very angry father and understood his rage.  
  
"I am really sorry about this. If I had..."  
  
"Remy this isn't your fault. The girls were scared that's all. Fiona is fine and now we can better help Dominique. Last night we all got a wake up call. No major harm done." She reassured, "I am not even mad a Dominique." Jubilee whispered in his ear, "and neither is Jono, he's just ruffled." Remy shook his head.  
  
The three of them exited the room quietly commenting on Jubilee's handy work in reference to the door. For a moment Remy refused to think about what he saw in the woods the night before or about the wedding photo, his little girl needed him.  
  
  
Sometime later...  
  
Remy sat in Charles Xavier's old office, now home to Scott Summers who was the new headmaster of the Institute. Charles was enjoying his retirement on the Shi'Ar homeworld with his wife Lilandra and children. Lord knows Charles deserved to be happy after all he'd been through.  
  
Unfortunately Remy was not here to reminisce over the good times, but rather to hunt down an old enemy. The woman who is by accounts his mother-in-law, Raven Darkholme or Mystique to those who hate her.  
  
After spending the last week or so pouring over records and documents online, the last trace of her he could find was to a small house in the French countryside some 16-years-ago.  
  
Remy exhaled, what in the hell was going on here, he pondered. Mystique disappeared shortly after her last encounter with Storm and her team when they were globe hoping looking for Destiny's Diaries. After the fight both rogue and Mystique had vanished. Charles could not find either of them, then six month later Rogue reappears like magic. Her memories a bit scrambled but it was her ... right?  
  
Remy exploded out the chair and made a beeline for his room. He scribbled a note to Rogue and Dominique explaining he had a little business out of state and he'd be back in a day or two. He'd done it before they would not be suspicious.  
  
Within the hour he had borrowed the minijet and was in France, gotta love flying at -1000 from light speed. He laded in a field near the house that had Raven Darkholme listed as the owner. It was in horrid shape. Weeds had grown all over the house. The shutters had completely fallen from the windows of the little house. The once lovely country cottage was little more than a water logged shack.  
  
As he entered her could hear the floor boards creek. The smell of dead rats and wet moss assaulted his nose. As he walked through the house he found his way to a bedroom with the door wide open. He entered and to his surprise he found, Nightcrawler.  
  
"Kurt?"  
  
"Heir LeBeau. Welcome to a house of secrets." Remy stood dumbfounded as he watched the aging Priest rock back and forth in an old rocking chair. "Many years ago my mother came to me in Zurich. I had just been confirmed as a Priest. She wanted to confess her sins."  
  
"Where is she?" Remy demanded.  
  
"She was in tears, I could not refuse her." Kurt dismissed Remy's comment. "There was fight, 16-years-ago."  
  
"In Paris, I already know."  
  
"Her team was defeated, but not before she claimed a victim... Rogue." Kurt slurred as he fought tears.  
  
"WHAT?!?!" Remy demanded as he yanked Kurt from the chair by his white and black collar. In an instant the room's interior vanished and they were standing in the houses' long over grown garden, in the center was a hardly visible wooden cross sticking out of the high grass.  
  
Kurt point to the cross, "Rogue was killed in the battle, Mystique lost it. She dragged her lifeless body her, to her home. After she buried her, she literally walked to me in Germany. I took her confession, but then she vanished. I later found out Rogue had returned, but I fear it is simply my very confused Mother."  
  
"No, it ... she..." Remy whispered as he released the teleporter.  
  
"Mystique was looking for answer, a way to fix what she'd broken. She was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. She'd killed her beloved daughter Remy, above all else Raven loved her..."  
  
"DON'T YOU EVER SAY DAT!!!"  
  
"It's true. She died the same day Rogue did. As far as I can tell she came to the conclusion that if she lived the rest of her life as Rogue she would correct her mistake."  
  
"But you saw her since then, YOU SAW US. YOU MARRIED US DAMN YOU. YOU CHRISTENED OUR DAUGHTER."  
  
"Mystique came to me in confusional, I could not say a word." Kurt attempted, but even now the excuse seemed weak.  
  
"So why now? Why tell me now?"  
  
"Because, I was wrong. I found out you were looking into Mystique's whereabouts and I realized that you were at least suspicious..."  
  
"To hell with you Preacherman." Remy spat as he stood over Rogue's grave. Uncontrollable tears fell from his eyes. Collapsing on to his knees, Remy hugged the weathered rugged cross close to his chest. All the memories came back to him. The first time he saw her, the first time he kissed, the one time they really made love before his involvement in the Morlock massacre was revealed. It all came back.  
  
A feral soulful howl erupted from within Remy and echoed across the countryside. A call to his beloved Rogue in the afterlife and warning to the Bitch playing her in this life.  
  
The next day  
  
Remy docked the plane in the hanger bay. His plan was kill her slowly and explain after the body changed back into Mystique. Dominique would be hurt, but she'd get over it once the truth came out.  
  
Leaving the hanger bay he made his way to their room, empty. Actually the whole house was empty. "Computer, locate Marie LeBeau and Dominique LeBeau?" He requested to the air.  
  
Rogue is currently in the Danger Room running a level one running program. Vamp is currently off campus.  
  
"Number of person in the mansion?"  
  
Two, Reminard LeBeau and Marie LeBeau.  
  
"Excellent."  
  
By the time he reached the Danger Room control booth he had cooked up a number of painful ways to kill her. Lasers, attack by 80 or so Sentinels or just a straight beat down, he was angry enough.  
  
As he entered the control booth, he noted that she was running a simple walking program. He peeked down into the actual room. She was dressed in gray sweat suit and tennis slowly making her way around the track in the middle of what looked like a Victorian garden. "She ain't don dat since... NO." He yelped.  
  
Flopping in the chair, he keyed a command into her computer. Her image on the became hollow to the point where he could see her heart beating, her blood coursing through her veins and a small fetus in her womb.  
  
Like a mad man he leapt from his chair, charged the glass before him and jumped the distance between the control room and the floor of the danger room. The hologram vanished and Rogue took the air ready to battle her new enemy.  
  
"Who's there?" She demanded in the darkness. The red emergency light flicked on as the alarm sounded. "Remy, what the hell are you doin' Sugah?"  
  
"Remy was about to ask you dat same question ... Rogue." Rogue landed in front of her husband and with all the trust in the world approached him with the biggest smile on her face.  
  
"Remy I got good news." He was so close to the boiling point he could feel himself about the kill her with his bare hands. "We gonna have a baby, Sugah." She said seductively then hugged him. In that instant all his hate melted away. All he felt was love and he hated himself for it.   
  
He pulled away in shock, he loved Rogue not...  
  
His wife's green eyes turned sad, all he saw was disappointment in them. Not a sign betrayal. Not an ounce of evil, only love and ...  
  
"Is everything okay down there?" Scott asked as the alarm died away. Remy looked up at the gathered group, his daughter included in their number. Then he looked back at his wife, Raven, Mystique ... could Kurt be right, did Raven fall so far away that she doesn't even know that she's Mystique anymore? Is she so completely Rogue that, that's all that remains inside her?   
  
Looking into her eyes, Remy saw himself back on the roof of the mansion the night she came home. He had never felt that much joy in all his days...  
  
Without another thought, Remy pulled Rogue close and kissed her. It was bittersweet, but as she returned it he knew that this was another secret he would keep. 


End file.
